


Time-Travelling Idiots

by KayTh3Great



Category: Invader Zim
Genre: Dib - Freeform, M/M, Older Dib (Invader Zim), Older Zim (Invader Zim), Time Travel, ZADE, ZADF, ZaDr, Zim - Freeform, invader zim - Freeform, shit gets confusing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-24
Updated: 2020-03-24
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:35:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23293357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KayTh3Great/pseuds/KayTh3Great
Summary: Dib woke up in his room but it looked... different? Messier? Almost like... oh god please no. He was face to face with his 13 year old self, who was pointing at him with his mouth open. Dib put his head between his legs and sighed loudly, "How did I forget about this???"Meanwhile, a younger Zim is marveling at his older, much taller counterpart. Said counterpart was weighing the pros and cons of kicking his younger self through a wall.A wrong calculation and poor coordination leads to Zim and Dib falling into a portal that sends them seven or eight years into the past. They need to find a way back to the future without causing too much damage in the past, but when has Zim every really been able to avoid causing at least a little chaos?Can be read as part of Idiot With a Cause or a one-shot. A decently long one shot.
Relationships: Dib & Zim (Invader Zim), Dib/Zim (Invader Zim)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 198





	Time-Travelling Idiots

_"That's not what it's supposed to do.", Dib said with a worried expression._

_"Wow, thanks idiot, I couldn't tell.", Zim was next to him, looking at his tablet and trying to figure out what they messed up._

_They had been trying to make a portal that could be used to go between their satelite and Zim's base, but instead of displaying their intended location, the portal was just a swirly red mess that looked in no way safe. It started sparking and smoking, causing the whole lab to shake._

_"Turn it off, Zim!"_

_"I've been trying! It's not working!"_

_Another tremmor shook the catwalk they'd been standing, sending Dib falling off towards the floor. Zim immediately shot down to try and grab him before his stupid, squishy body went splat, but his forward momentum sent both of them right into the portal. It immediately shut off as soon as they were flung through._

Dib woke up in his room but it looked... different? Messier? Almost like... _oh god please no_. He was face to face with his 13 year old self, who was pointing at him with his mouth open. Dib put his head between his legs and sighed loudly, "How did I forget about this???" His younger self was still pointing at him, seemingly stuck in a state of infinitely inhaling.

"Stop that, you'll catch flies."

" _Wh- what's happening? Who are you?! Are you some kinda evil alien assasin Zim sent to kill me?!_ "

Bringing both hands to his face and trying to fight back his growing headache, Dib sighed again. Thankfully, he'd been the type of kid to actually consider the prospect of coming back in time to meet his past self, so he knew it wouldn't be too hard to explain himself.

"24.", the older Dib said, and his younger self shut up and looked at him in shock.

" _That's... that's the time travel number! But how do I know you didn't just torture me for that number in the future and come back pretending to be me to make me let my guard down?_ "

The older Dib looked at him again before responding with his second time travel number.

"16."

The 13 year old Dib's eyes immediately lit up as he jumped up and down. " _So you're really me?! How far into the future are you from? Are we a famous paranormal investigator? When do we finally stop Zim?_ " Dib shot up at the mention of the alien's name.

_Oh no, Zim! If I'm here then-_

Meanwhile, Zim woke up face first on his living room floor, Gir sitting on top of him and his younger self staring at him wide eyed and curious. "Oh, _that's_ how this happened.", Zim growled under his breath as he sat up, knocking Gir to the floor.

" _Whee! Again!_ ", the robot tried climbing up onto his shoulders again before the younger Zim grabbed the poor little bot and threw him into the hallway.

Older Zim stood up and stretched, taking in the surroundings of his base. It was exactly how it used to be about two years after he got to the Earth. His younger self just looked up at him in awe.

" _You-!_ "

"Yes, yes, I'm you but tall. Get your ranting out of the way."

" _How is this possible?! You are very clearly Zim, but at such a height, even the Tallest aren't this tall! And those shoes... they make the mighty Zim even taller! How do we achieve this? Tell meee-_ "

Older Zim just looked down at his younger self in annoyance before sighing.

"It's called gravity. Earth is lighter than Irk. And you'll discover the shoes on your own eventually. What year is it for you on the planet?"

The younger Zim stared up at him with a suspicious glare, " _Why are you using the human language? No self respecting invader would speak such an inferior language unless communicating with the pitifully disgusting dirt creatures on this grossly inferior planet._ "

Older Zim rolled his eyes before continuing in Irken.

"How many years have you been on the Earth?"

" _Almost two human cycles._ " 

The older Zim brought a hand to his chin and thought, his younger self inspecting him still while he did so. While he did remember this event taking place, he didn't actually remember most of the events leading up to it's resolution. He knew they went back, but he'd only briefly interacted with his future self. He could only hope Dib had more ideas than him on the matter. First order of business was meeting up with him though, then they could work out their next moves from there.

He made his way over to the hatch he kept his disguise in at that time and squated down so he could access it. He pulled out a set of contacts and a wig and secured them on himself. He'd forgotten how unconfortable the ones he had back then were. As he made his way to the door, his younger self got in front of him and tried to block his path. Emphasis on tried, as he only came up to his knees.

" _Wait! I would like to be a part of whatever evil plan you've gone through time to enact! Are you gonna kill that large headed, disgusting, earth boy now before he can cause problems? Are you going to destroy that hideous earthling learning building? Allow Zim to assist!_ "

He looked down at his younger self, contemplating just kicking him in his spooch and leaving him there to suffer as he went on his way. Unfortunately he couldn't do that, that's not what he remembered happening.

So instead, he looked down at him and said, "Look, just go back to whatever you were doing before I appeared. Finish that plan up, it's important." His younger self just nodded before running further into his house towards his lab elevator. 

Dib didn't actually remember a decent chunk of how this incident plays out, which is funny because for most people having to help your future self return to their own time would be an event ingrained deep in the folds of your memories. What he did remember was going out to the hill Zim had been on when he told Dib about his exile, and then being absolutely baffled by how his older self and Zim interacted.

What they'd actually done was a blur in his mind, but his 13 year old self had been utterly stunned by it. " _Why are we going out to the woods? Is this where your time machine is?_ ", his younger self was running circles around him, and he honestly just wished he would _shut up for five seconds did I really used to be this bad? I owe Gaz an apology for having to put up with me this long-_

His train of thought was derailed when he heard his younger self gasp. He looked up to see Zim rubbing at a contact lense, looking pretty impatient. Young Dib hid behind a tree, not being stealthy or quiet in the slightest, and it drew Zim's attention to their direction. Dib ran over to him, feeling relief as he got closer and they hugged.

"Zim! I was worried you'd mess something up before I found you."

"Yeah, and it took you long enough! I had to deal with the tiny nuisance that is past Zim. Rest assured I convinced myself to remain in his base."

Dib laughed at the fact that Zim could easily just bully himelf from the past like that. Dib pointed behind him at the 13 year old Dib who thought he was hidden behind the thin tree trunk in front of him.

"I wasn't as lucky.", he paused and laughed for a second before crossing his arms, "Though I guess _I've_ always been the smarter one, huh?"

Zim flicked him in the nose, causing him to laugh even more as they finally seperated. Once he calmed down, he stood up straight and put his hands on his hips.

"So, how did we deal with this? Because I don't actually remember all that much about it."

Zim looked at him with a disgusted expression. "Oh, great, you don't know anything about this either. Zim was hoping you knew how we resolved it, since we spent more time around your big headed child self than me."

Dib deflated a bit as Zim said that. "Hey! I grew into it!"

After he got past the insult, he thought a bit more about what Zim had said. "So wait, you don't know what we do either?"

They stood there thinking for a few moments as child Dib cautiously got closer.

" _So wait, what's happening?!_ ", the child asked them, shaking both of them from their thoughts. He looked up at his older self with a betrayed and confused look, " _You're working **with** the alien?! Did he do some kind of evil hypnosis thing to you? Are you being held hostage?!_" The younger Dib was wildly flailing around as he spoke, Dib and Zim just looking down at him while he had a fit.

Dib put a hand to his face and sighed for what felt like the hundreth time in the last hour before looking back down at his younger self.

"Look, I can't actually explain much, but this Zim is on our side trust me.", he looked back at Zim before he continued, "Our main priority right now should be getting to the lab and seeing if there's anything we can use to get back. Whatever your younger self has isn't going to be even half as good as what we're used to, but it's our best shot."

"We could just steal the Voot and make our way to a black market and get more advanced technology than what Zim had to work with at this time."

"No, even if you can still go to irken ruled space right now, it's not a good idea. You remember what happened when people saw a _five foot tall **Irken**_ when we went to that space park? No way we'd be able to just go to a market without some kind of word getting to the armada. That's not something we need added to the list of current problems."

"True, and the Voot only had one seat at this point as well, so it'd only be Zim."

Young Dib looked at them their entire conversation like they'd each grown a second and third head. Here his older self was, talking casually with _Zim_ and telling him his idea was stupid, and _Zim actually listened and agreed!_ He had no idea what to think about this, but it was the weirdest thing he'd ever seen.

"Alright, so, since the lab is the only way we're getting anywhere, we need to figure out how to get in without pest Zim figuring us out."

"You mispoke, human, you meant 'past'."

"Oh right, my bad, you're still a pest."

Zim messed his hair up and he playfully swatted at his hand while past Dib just took the whole scene in, looking like he might pass out.

" _Computer!_ ", young Zim screamed at the top of his lungs when he leaned back from his latest project, " _What is the completion status of the death machine?_ "

The computer sighed before answering in an annoyed tone, " _87 percent, it should be done by tomorrow._ "

The younger Zim began to cackle," _Prepare yourself, human, because come tomorrow, your disgusting planet will belong to ZIM!_ " He went back to working on his death machine after he finally stopped laughing a few minutes later.

The Dibs and older Zim made their way back to Dib's house, older two planning to go in through Dib's window because Gaz was in the livingroom and none of them wanted to have to be the one to explain this to her. Once young Dib actually opened window, Zim carefully carried older Dib up in his arms. Once inside, Zim just sat on the bed while Dib dug around his old desk for the blueprints he knew he had at the time of Zim's base.

By the time he found them, Zim was laying on his stomach and younger Dib was just sitting as far as he could be from the alien on the other end of the bed. " _Alright, so what's your plan? Just going in and shooting Zim before taking what you need and running?_ ", young Dib asked, both excited at the prospect of getting into Zim's base and weary of said alien's older self just lounging around on _his_ bed like it was normal for him.

"As fun as that would be," Zim said, suprising young Dib, "That's something I can definatly say did not happen."

Dib just gigled a bit at Zim's response while he tried to make sense of his own drawing. "You weren't just being rude when you forced me to work on my blueprints, this is a mess.", he said, prompting a scoff from Zim and an annoyed grunt from young Dib.

"Oh course I was right, why would Zim lie about something so _stupid_?"

" _Hey, I worked hard on those!_ "

"Hard work hardly equals quality, stinky. Look at all of Zim's creations from this period, most of them took me weeks and you somehow manage to break them all."

Older Dib responded without looking up from the blueprints, "Most of your current stuff is also proof of that, Zim."

"That's because it all has your stupid input taken into account."

" _Jeez, you guys talk to eachother like a coup-_ "

"OK FIGURED OUT A PLAN!", Dib interupted his past self, remembering that attempted statement all too well and not wanting any ideas along that line continuing to form in his younger self's mind this early in his interactions with Zim. "From the looks of it, there's a blind spot here,", he pointed to a bit circled on the map, "so as long as we can stick to this area we should be in the clear."

"Zim doesn't need to hide from his younger self, he thinks I'm here on some great evil mission from the future."

"Ok, even better. Since that's the case, small Dib and I just need to stick here while you go into the lab itself and find what we need."

Dib stopped for a second, thinking. "What _do_ we need? Like I know we need to figure out a way to replicate the teleporter, but we also need to figure out what we messed up and hope replicating that sends us back instead of just displacing us even more."

Zim just started laughing, causing Dib to blush slightly, "Idiot, of course Zim is the one who has the knowledge to fix this. While you took your time meeting me at the hill, I managed to figure out what we messed up." Zim's pak opened up, startling young Dib enough that he almost fell off the bed. A metal stick brought a piece of paper out and Zim grabbed it before the arm retreated back inside.

The child stared at the paper in confusion and amazement, it was blueprints for some kind of stargate looking thing, parts written in irken and english. There were newer bits of irken written in red, and some parts circled. Dib grabbed the paper from Zim and looked it over while the alien kept talking.

"I realised some of my math at the beginning was wrong, which led to both of us making mistakes as it went on. Looking at those mistakes, though, Zim has come up with a solution that should send us back where we belong."

Young Dib was stunned by what he was seeing, because again, Zim had _admitted that he messed up somehow_ , and his older self seemed to be reading in **_irken_** with no problem. _What the hell is going on in the future???_

"Right, so we just need something reflective we can use as a makeshift frame, some tools, and a portable power core. Maybe a mirror could work?"

"It has to be able to conduct electricity, learn how to read."

Dib brought his hand up to his mouth while he thought for a second. "So a lake or something, then? We'd need to make sure you don't get wet while we work on it."

"My younger self kept an obsessive amount of paste on hand for-", Zim stopped and squinted at young Dib, who perked up at the potential information on his nemesis, " _an undisclosed amount of years._ Nice try, tiny Dib. Zim will give you no helpful information to attack him."

Young Dib seemed like he was about to say something before older Dib spoke up, "He has a point, we have to be careful with what we say. Who knows how messed up the future could get if we-"

" _Alright, that's it! This is **insane**! What kind of future are you two from?! Zim keeps admitting he's wrong, he's letting you make fun of him without **stabbing** you, he's being... civil! And you!_", young Dib jumped up on his bed and pointed down at his future self, " _You're happily working with the enemy, you're joking with him, **you hugged him** **earlier** , and you two keep talking about stuff you'd been working on **together**! **You can read in irken**!_"

Dib and Zim just looked at young Dib while he ranted, before both of them just broke out into laughter. "Holy shit, I really didn't have any chill back then, did I?"

" _Don't laugh at me, give me an answer!_ "

Dib had to put effort into breathing propperly before being able to respond. "Look, I really can't explain this to you in any way other than it'll make sense as you get older. Telling you too much could change how the future goes, and I really don't want that to happen."

Zim had finally stopped laughing as Dib said that last bit, and his antennae raised slightly.

Dib looked at the old alarm clock on the desk. "It's about 2:30, so we need to get in there and get what we need now. I'm thinking we could use the lake at the south end of the river, since it's not too big and it's away from anything significant."

Zim stood up at that point, ready to get this over with, "Lead the way then, Dib, since this is your plan."

Dib smiled up at him, his younger self still looking at them incredulously. "Right."

The three of them stood behind a tree near the outside of Zim's base, preparing for the first move in their plan.

"Alright, so first we need to get past the lawn gnomes. After that we need to stick to the blind spots and make our way to the elevator."

" _Right, but then we also have to be careful of Gir and hope Zim isn't already inside waiting for us_."

"True, but if past Zim trusts future Zim, then as long as he keeps him distracted, we should be fine."

While the Dibs talked, Zim just stared at his base, hand to his chin and antennae lowered flat against his head. "I think," Zim started, prompting both Dibs to look at him, the older one knowing immediately something was up based on his posture, "it might be better for Zim to go in alone. With how violent I was at this point, it'd be safer for you if I was the only one to go in."

"What? No. We both need to be in there to make sure we have-"

"Zim would feel better about this if you stayed outside.", he looked down at the confused young Dib for a second, " _Both_ of you."

Dib stared at him for a second before sighing, a soft smile on his face. "Fine, but I'm making a list of what we need so you don't forget anything."

"Bold of you to assume I'd forget anything."

"It'd be even bolder of me to trust your memory alone on something so time sensetive. This might be our only chance to get what we need."

Zim handed Dib a bit of paper and a pen, and then proceeded to make mock talking motions while Dib was turned around and leaning on the tree to write. "Here, I know my irken is sloppy by your standards, but it's better than risking him seeing a note in english with _my_ handwriting. No doubt you had that memorized by this point."

Zim squinted exaggeratedly at the note while he read it.

"I suppose it's legible enough. You're practicing when we're done with this."

"Whatever, space bug, just go in and get the stuff we need for this. I don't think our phones are gonna work here, so please be careful. I'm gonna go to the lake with mini-Dib and wait for you there. If you don't show up before sundown, I'm gonna think something went wrong so don't keep me waiting alright?"

Zim looked him in the eye and then looked to the side. "Stupid. It's an insult that you think I even need that long to get such a stupid list of things."

Dib just smiled at him before starting to walk away towards the lake, his younger self looking at Zim for a few more moments before running a bit to catch up.

Zim entered his base and took his disguise off, handing the pieces to the robot arms that came down to try and remove the bits themselves.

"Computer! Let the Zim of this time know I have returned!"

" _Whatever_."

Better he made his presence known now before he made his way down so small Zim didn't try to shoot him or something. He made his way to his _incredibly_ tiny elevator and went down to the lab. There was no way in hell having the Dibs tag along for this was a good idea. Not with how chaotic the smaller ones were.

Knowing how he is, combined with how he used to be, the fact that he had something he was working on currently mean he was definately in the lab right now building some kind of weapon of mass destruction. He'd see the Dibs in an instant and have some already thought out monologue and trap planned in case Dib actually managed to get down there in one piece.

Sure enough, his younger self was in the lab hard at work on some giant robot with a big gun and all that fun stuff. Not wanting to deal with whatever tangent his younger self would undoubtedly go on, Zim left him to his work and got to collecting the stuff he needed. _Alright, I just need the power core now and-_

" _Ah, Zim sees that you have returned! Did you accomplish your futurey mission of doom?_ "

"Not quite yet, I needed a few things."

" _Oh. Well, obvoiously you know where everything is, so just get whatever you need._ "

And with that, small Zim returned to what he was working on. Zim knew he should probably just get what he needs and get out as fast as possible, but he was also curious which project he was working on at that time.

"Which death machine is this one?"

Small Zim poked his head out again, looking confused and curious, " _'Which one'? Does this one fail?_ "

Zim looked away for a second before giving an answer, having to think of one that didn't give anything away, "Just because there's more than one doesn't mean the first one failed. Even perfection can be improved upon." _Don't give the tiny maniac any ideas Zim, it's going right to his head._

" _Really?_ "

"Of course! Zim wouldn't be where he's at right now if he ever stopped trying to improve!"

The small Zim thought for a second before looking back down at his older self, " _Then, improvement is what Zim shall strive for! He shall be the most improved being to ever exist!_ "

Older Zim just chuckled at this before going to get the power core and making his way back upstairs and putting his disguise back on. He made sure to grab a few things of paste before making his way back outside, and began to head for the lake.

As the Dibs walked towards the lake, young Dib kept looking up at him like he wanted to say something, but didn't know what. Dib sighed before looking down at him, "If you want to ask me something, go ahead. I'll answer what I can, but I really can't say much, alright?"

" _Why do you and Zim get along? Why is Zim helping you and worried about your safety?! Why-_ "

"One question at a time, motor mouth."

Young Dib stopped for a second, thought, and then tried again.

" _Zim was worried about your- I guess **our** safety earlier and you didn't question it._"

"That's not really a question-"

" _ **Why** was Zim worried about if you stayed safe or not?_"

Dib looked in almost any direction other than where his younger self was, because _how_ could he explain Zim wanting him to stay safe and them getting along without messing up the past?

"W-well... like I said earlier I really can't explain why Zim and I interact the way we do without risking seriously messing up the future. All I can say about it is that I promise it will make sense eventually. You'd be suprised how fast the next like eight years pass. Alot can change in such a small amount of time."

The gears in young Dib's head were visably turning as he thought about what he'd just been told. The fact that his older self didn't _deny_ that Zim did worry about him. He wasn't going to get a straight answer on the 'why' of it, but this was a start. He asked a few more questions, generic time travel questions like who the president was, what he does after he's done with skool, things like that. All of the answers Dib gave were really vague and side-steppy, but they seemed to satisfy the small one well enough.

Once they got to the lake, Dib stood at the edge and looked around. The area was wooded with small clearings at various parts along the edge of the lake. The lake led into the river, but the opening itself was small so it would be easy to dam off while they did what they needed to. Dib grabbed a few rocks and tossed them out into the water at varying distances. He watched as they temporarilly disturbed the reflection on the water before dissapearing into the liquid depths.

"This should work well enough, we're just gonna have to block the bit that connects it to the river.", Dib sat down against a tree and put his hands behind his head, "But we can wait for Zim to work on that since he can just use his pak legs and cut down a tree or something."

As Dib said that, his younger self's face contorted in fear.

" _Those are strong enough to do **that**?!?_"

"Oh right, he hasn't started using them against you yet."

" ** _YET?!_** "

Dib paused for a second, "Ok I don't care if this information messes anything up but don't let him hit you with his pak legs, they hurt."

Young Dib etched that information into his mind, to _never_ , **_ever_** , get caught on the recieving end of one of those legs. They just sat there in silence for a bit before a loud crash from behind startled both of them. They jumped and turned around to see Zim behind the large pile of stuff he'd just dropped on the ground.

"Jesus christ Zim, don't break the equipment!"

Zim just stuck his tounge out before throwing a sleeping bag at older Dib's face, knocking him backwards.

"I figured we're going to be working on this overnight, and you would prefer this over some leaves or something."

Dib pushed the bag to the side and fixed his glasses. "Right.", he looked over at the soon to be setting sun and then back at Zim,

"The sooner the better with this. Did you bring any flashlights or lanterns or something so we can see what we're doing?"

"You mean so _you_ can see what you're doing?"

"I will push you into this lake."

At that statement, Zim threw a flashlight with a hip fastener at Dib's chest. "Thank you." The Dibs stood up, and Zim got out the blueprints from his pak while older Dib secured the flashlight to his waist.

"Alright, first order of business is sectioning the lake off from the river. Zim, could you do that with your pak legs while I sort through the equipment?" Zim looked annoyed while one of his legs suddenly shot out and cut down a nearby tree. "Thank you."

Small Dib just kinda... stood there. What was he supposed to help with? He couldn't read a majority of what was writtne on the blueprints, he had no idea what any of the stuff his older self was sorting through was, and there was _no way_ he was gonna try to help Zim with the dam. He eventually decided to just sit and watch older Dib sort though the stuff in front of him til the sun went down.

"I think you should probably go home for now."

" _What? Why?_ "

"Because it's getting dark, and Gaz is gonna be pissed if she doesn't think you're home. Besides, you look pretty tired."

" _You're one to talk._ "

" _You_ haven't been displaced through time. _I_ have reason to be tired other than being like 13 and having a bedtime."

" _Jeez dude that was a bit too honest. But fine. I **will** be coming back later, though._"

"As long as it's after you've at least had a nap or something."

And at that the younger Dib left. After a bit, Zim came back over to where Dib was messing with tools and looking at the blueprints.

"The water is closed off and ready for us to get to work. I see you sent your younger self home."

"Yeah, he looked pretty tired so I told him to at least go take a nap or something."

Dib yawned and Zim squatted down next to him. "I think you should probably get some sleep too. Considering how stressful normal activities can be on you, this definatly can't be good for your pitiful health." Dib pushed Zim a little bit, causing him to lose his balance and fall backwards. The human laughed before yawning again. "Get some sleep, Zim will continue to work on this for now." Dib raised his hands in defeat as Zim adjusted himself so he could start messing with what Dib was doing.

"Fine, but you better wake me up after a while, you may not need sleep but I don't want you working on this all by yourself for too long."

"Go to sleep, Dib."

" _Fine_. Goodnight, Zim."

Zim only hummed a bit in response as Dib took his coat off and got as comfortable as he could in a cheap sleeping bag on the forest floor.

After working on the portal for a few hours, Zim looked over at the sleeping Dib. He'd somehow managed to get comfortable despite the circumstances, and was peacefully resting. Zim went over and sat down next to him, deciding to take a break. After just sitting there and watching Dib sleep, Zim decided instead to lay down and rest his head on Dib's chest.

He laid there with his arms crossed, peacefully listening to Dib's soft breaths for a while before he heard something move in the trees around them. He waited a second, and he heard it again. "You aren't sneaky, you know. I can hear you moving around.", he finally said, prompting young Dib to come out from the trees.

" _What are you doing??_ ", he asked, more confused than anything else.

"None of your business, stinky. Why are you here, don't you have a bedtime or something?"

" _I came to make sure **you** weren't doing anything evil! And then-_"

Zim sat up as soon young Dib started raising his voice, immediately making a motion to shush him, " _Quiet_. You'll wake him up."

" _That's something I really don't understand about all this. Why are you acting like this? What are you planning, Zim?!_ "

"Zim's only 'plans' right now are to return to the future, and allow my Dib some rest, so keep it down."

Young Dib stopped for a second at that phrasing. " _'Your' Dib? What's that supposed to mean?_ "

Zim froze, having just realised what he said. He looked to the side before blushing a bit and trying to change the subject. "It means mind your own business, worm boy. Now leave so Zim can go back to what he was doing." At that, Zim laid down again, all too aware of the child who was staring at him thinking god knows what.

" _I don't trust you, Zim. Just because he does doesn't mean I ever will._ "

"It doesn't matter if you don't, you'd be even more stupid than I thought you were if you did. The Zim right now isn't worth trusting anyways."

It was painfully obvious that the child wasn't going anywhere at this point, so Zim considered his break over and after a few more minutes he got up and continued to work on the portal until the sun came up a few hours later. Young Dib just sat and watched him work, trying to not appear interested in what he was doing.

An hour or so after sunrise, Dib woke up to a poke in the face. He swatted at Zim's hand and rolled over, only for his younger self to betray him and also poke him in the face.

"Ugh, what time even is it?", Dib asked as he sat up.

"Time for you to get up and help me finish this so we can leave."

Dib stretched a bit and slid his arms into his trench coat before standing up. Looking around, Dib could see the massive amount of work Zim had gotten done while he was asleep.

"I told you to wake me up so I could help, y'know. Did you even take any breaks?"

"Of course I took a break."

" _Yeah, he was-_ "

Young Dib was interupted by the sight of Zim slowly releasing a pak leg.

" _He was sitting by a tree when I got back here._ ", young Dib said quickly as he stared at Zim. Zim quickly put the leg away and whistled innocently as older Dib looked back at him.

"What Zim did durring his break is irrelivent, we need to get this done."

Dib went over to get a closer look at Zim's work. There were energy nodes placed neatly all around the lake, and the programming panel was all set up and ready for them to input what they needed.

"Did you measure the max and min depths yet?"

"Of course not, that involves getting into the water. Why would I subject myself to that when I could just wait for _you_ to do it?"

Dib sighed as he took his coat back off, also removing his shoes and socks before rolling his pantlegs up and emptying his pockets. He grabbed the yardstick, whacked Zim with it, and then got into the water.

"Edge is 1 foot 3.2 inches."

As Dib said the numbers, Zim typed them into the computer. "Ok."

Dib moved further into the water, his pants and lower shirt getting completely soaked. Once he was at the center, he stuck the yardstick into the water again. "Middle is 2 feet 7 inches."

"Alright, thank you. You can come back up on dry land now."

Young Dib nearly fell over at hearing the phrase 'thank you' come out of the alien's mouth. Once Dib was back out of the water, he unrolled his now soaked pantlegs and tried to wring out his shirt a little bit.

"You know, you could have just taken those off."

"Zim, there's a child right there. Me or not, I'm not about to get naked."

" _Me being here is the only thing stopping you from being **NAKED** in front of **ZIM**?!? And I'm not a child, I'm 13. I'm a teenager._"

"Not literally naked, just like, in my underwear. And yes, you are in fact a child."

At that point, Zim whispered, "It's not like I haven't seen him naked before."

" ** _WAIT WHAT?!_** "

"ZIM!"

Zim was snickering, "All I said was the truth!"

"Truth or not, now isn't the time!"

"Whatever. Come over here and finish with the coding while I check the nodes."

Zim moved out of the way so Dib could get to the computer. As soon as Zim left that generalized area, young Dib made his way towards his older self.

" _Why has he seen you naked?! Why don't you care that the alien has seen your body and is planning to take your organs?!_ "

"Can you calm down, please? Trust me, him seeing me without clothes is one of the more tame things to happen over the course of the next few years."

" _What's **that** supposed to mean?!_"

Dib immediately turned bright red and straightened his back, realising he'd actually said that out loud. "Y-y'know, just stuff in general. Weird things happen later, that's all!" His younger self eyed him with confusion.

" _When I got back here earlier,_ ", young Dib paused, making absolutely sure Zim was out of hearing range before choosing to lower his speaking volume a bit more anyways, " _he was laying down with his head on your stomach while you slept._ "

Dib laughed a bit after his younger self said that, blushing slightly. "Yeah, he does that sometimes."

" _Wait, then why was he embarassed by it?_ "

"That's just how he is.", Dib said with a bit of a sigh and a smile.

 _Yeah there has to be something up with this, maybe I finally go insane at some point_ , young Dib thought to himself as older Dib continued with his programming. 

By sundown, everything was set and ready to go. Both of them had checked over the coding again to make absolutely sure everything was right.

"Alright, everything looks good! Now we just need to fire it up and hope it works."

Dib pressed the power button and watched as everything whirred to life. All the nodes lit up, and the middle of the lake began to swirl, slowly spreading to the rest of the water's surface.

"Alright! We did it! Now cover yourself in paste and-"

There was a loud thudding sound in the distance getting closer to them at a worryingly rapid rate. Finally, the source of the noise was made painfully clear as some nearby trees came crashing down, and the younger Zim was visable in his death machine.

" _Found you, pig child! You thought you could hide in this tree area from your doom but-_ ", small Zim stopped, finally noticing the slightly taller second Dib, and his future counterpart. " _Eh? What's going on? Why is ther two of the disgusting meat boy?_ " Everyone just kind of froze for a second before the small Zim just carried on with his rant, " _Oh well, not like it matters! You shall both feel the wrath of Zim! Prepare for your demise!_ "

Small Zim prepared the cannons on his robot to fire, and aimed them directly at the Dibs. Right before the gun could actually fire, older Zim had managed to divert the gun to the side, putting himself between young Zim and the Dibs.

"Leave _my_ Dib out of this, focus on your own."

Small Zim was in shock at this, and older Zim used the second of distraction to look back at Dib, "Get in the portal. I'll make sure your younger self is safe."

"But-"

" _Dib_ , if you trust me at all you'll do as I say. This isn't a request _it's an order_."

Dib looked at him for a second before going to jump into the lake, "You're cleaning up the lab when you get back." And with that, he jumped in.

" _What are you doing?! Zim almost had them!_ "

"I know, that's the issue."

" _How **dare** you stand in the way of Zim! I'll make you into a pile of goo, and then I go into the future myself to do it again!_"

Small Zim prepared to fire another shot, and older Zim ran towards the trees so there was less chance of the portal getting messed up. The shot fired, and he managed to block it from hitting him with a tree. Knowing that the robot took about 90 seconds to reload, he made his way back to the young Dib who was still standing by the console.

"This fight if the only thing of this incident I remembered clearly, as it was such a ridiculous defeat on the side of Zim back then. I need your help with it, though. Are you up for assisting me in utterly destroying my past self?" The younger Dib looked unsure, but it wasn't like he had many options at this point.

" _What's the plan?_ "

"I'm going to throw you towards the dam and then jump into the portal. Once I'm inside, break the dam and make your way as close to the middle of the lake as you can manage. The robot short circuts and the small Zim shall run home burnt and defeated."

" _... Alright, but this better work or-_ "

"Yes yes, I know, disection and stopping me. Y'know after five years of it it got quite boring."

" _Wait I thought you guys were from eight y-_ "

"THERE ISN'T TIME FOR THIS!"

And with that, Zim threw the younger Dib towards the dam and jumped into the water as soon as he saw him land safely.

Zim woke up on the floor of his lab, groggy and confused. He looked over to see Dib, also passed out but seemingly ok. Their failed teleporter was sitting in the corner, dark and completely ruined.

The lab was a complete mess, various tools and bits of debris were scattered about and he knew it alot of things would have to be replaced. He collected himself a bit more before going over to check on Dib. He didn't seem to have any broken bones and his vitals were correct, he was just unconcious. Zim sighed as he scooped Dib up into his arms, making sure to be careful so he didn't wake him. He made his way upstairs, and set Dib down on the couch before laying down next to him.

**Author's Note:**

> I got the idea for this, and wrote it in one go. It's in the same universe as Idiot with a cause, but like, later in the timeline. Overall, it was a fun creative outlet for me and has given me some motivation and ideas for the main story.


End file.
